


Saltwater and Smoke

by MarieJacquelyn, Thorinsmut



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bath Sex, Complete, Flirting, HRBB14, M/M, Nori is a Little Shit, One Shot, Smut, Spirits AU, Teasing, Trust, lol what is canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 07:35:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2764997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarieJacquelyn/pseuds/MarieJacquelyn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorinsmut/pseuds/Thorinsmut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dwalin, Spirit of Battle Fury, just wants to enjoy his bath in peace. Nori, the ever-annoying Spirit of Nimble Fingers, has other plans for him.</p><p>Surprisingly enjoyable plans, it turns out.</p><p> <span class="small">art and concept by MarieJacquelyn. writing by Thorinsmut</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	Saltwater and Smoke

**Author's Note:**

Dwalin leaned back with a sigh, relaxing in the warm saltwater of his favorite bath. Peaceful little Hobbiton was a strange place to find the spirit of Battle Fury, but there was no place like the Cat's Bathhouse to soothe a spirit's pain. Dwalin made it a point to visit every month since he'd found the place. The saltwater of his favorite bath lapped around Dwalin's chest at the deep end of the pool, seated on an underwater bench. He leaned back against the stone edging and gazed up at the sky. The deep purples of sunset had faded, and the first stars shone through. The sky was clear and quiet, with none of the reeking smoke of battle or the screams of the injured and dying. It was just quiet and still and peaceful.

Dwalin reached up to gently touch the new scar on his chest. To lose a follower always hurt, but this one had been deep in the fury when she was cut down. Dwalin had been with her, felt her death as his own. Such a warrior she had been, such battles they'd won together, and now she was gone. Dull fire gleamed and flickered through the new scar on Dwalin's chest, and he sighed again as he dropped his hand.

All warriors died eventually.

Dwalin eased down further in the water until it was around his chin. Just his head remained outside, propped up against the edge of the pool, and he let the warm water ease the ache away. It was just him, here. Just him, and the water, and the quiet sky, and a soft-curling tendril of smoke reaching across his vision...

Dwalin sat up with a growl, swiping at the smoke. Most spirits knew better than to tangle with the spirit of Battle Fury, but the damn thief wouldn't take a _hint_ and leave Dwalin alone. He was a minor spirit, weak, not even one of the major names in the thieves' pantheon. The spirit of Nimble Fingers, Nori, beloved of pickpockets. He’d stolen Dwalin’s towels too many times. Dwalin was going to _break_ him when he he finally got his hands on him. His hand swiped harmlessly through the first tendril of smoke, dissipating it, but there was another from another direction. Dwalin punched at it, but again his hand touched nothing. There was a third Dwalin tried to grab, snarling loudly in warning, to no more effect.

A soft chuckle behind him distracted him from a fourth tendril of smoke, and he spun to see the spirit in question. Nori was perched neatly on his haunches at the edge of the pool, fox tail draped over his shoulder. He was dressed in nothing but a light wrap around his hips, skin steaming from the near-boiling indoor baths he preferred. The warm scent of cinnamon clung to him. His ink-dipped hands lightly held his absurdly long-stemmed pipe, sharp golden nails on the ends of long slender fingers to suit his name. He sucked up a mouthful of smoke and blew it slowly out to surround Dwalin, grinning through his sharp fox teeth.

Dwalin lunged without hesitation. He should have caught the spirit of Nimble Fingers, but instead all he got was the lightest brush of soft heated skin before his arms closed on smoke and he was left half-hanging out of the pool with nothing to show for it.

"So angry..." Nori purred in his ear, long fingers tracing quick as mist across his shoulders and the thief spirit's legs bracketing his body. Dwalin's breath caught against his will. No one _touched_ the spirit of Battle Fury, not like that. The unscarred portions of his skin burned with the sensation. It was a distraction for the tiniest instant before Dwalin remembered to try to grab Nori off his back, but a tiny instant was all Nori needed. He dissipated into smoke, dancing away again just as Dwalin's hands would have grabbed him, and he took Dwalin's skull mask with him.

"What have I got now?" Nori crowed, dancing off across the surface of the pool with smoke and his fox tail and his long rusty braid all trailing after him. He turned the mask in his long fingers, laughing.

"Give it back!" Dwalin snarled, slowed by the water as he gave chase. He was going to _destroy_ Nori, and then he was going to destroy his _temple_ , and all his _followers_ and...

"Am I a big bad war spirit?" Nori laughed, putting Dwalin's mask over his own sharp face and growling. His long fingers caressed the shape of it as he held it up, the heat of his breath washed over it, the smoothness of his rusty hair brushed across it, and Dwalin's breath caught again against his will. No one _touched_ him. He was not used to it.

Nori lowered the mask, eyes even brighter as his mouth fell open with glee.

"You can _feel_ it..." he breathed, delicate fingertips tracing around the eye sockets of the mask as if to test it.

"Give it back!" Dwalin demanded again, unable to suppress his full-body shudder at Nori's touch even as he lunged for the thief spirit again.

"Ah ah ah!" Nori chided, turning his sharp little claws against the mask as he danced just out of reach. "No attacking!" His nails scraped lightly across the bone mask and Dwalin froze, trembling.

"Don't..." he begged, "Don't hurt… don’t damage it." _don’t hurt me_ , he’d nearly said. He, the spirit of Battle Fury, begging to a little thief spirit. He clenched his jaw against his own words, glaring at Nori. So what if Nori hurt him? He could endure the pain. It would just heal into another scar that felt nothing. He could never be hurt twice the same way – and he'd have the perfect excuse to hunt out and utterly destroy the thief spirit.

"War spirits," Nori laughed, rolling his eyes as he floated off to perch on the shore again, the pressure of his nails thankfully eased. He turned the mask thoughtfully in his nimble hands. "What fun would _hurting_ you be?" he asked. He held the mask between both hands, facing him, and leaned close to breathe against Dwalin's skull mask, warm smoke blowing in delicate patterns against it. Dwalin couldn't help his moan or the way his knees went weak under him. He stumbled back to his bench, sitting down hard. The softness of the smoke's caress was nearly overwhelming.

Nori made a thoughtful sound, watching Dwalin with his bright fox eyes. He flicked his tail forward and traced the down-soft fluff of the tip slowly down the inside of Dwalin's mask. Dwalin whimpered as a shudder passed through him. Softness and gentleness were strange, foreign, but oh they felt _good_. The spirit of Battle Fury did not need them, of course not. Just as he did not need the Bathhouse. He'd done fine before he'd found it. He did not _need_ to visit it every month without fail.

"You still want this back?" Nori asked softly, his breath warm against Dwalin's skull mask as his fingertips began rubbing gentle circles against its temples. Dwalin groaned as he melted back against the stones of the pool's rim.

"Later," he grunted. It was not a smart thing to say, not the wise decision. He should not trust a thief with a piece of himself, but nimble fingertips were tracing up and down the center seam of his skull mask and it felt so _good_.

Nori hummed happily as he set to exploring. Every tiny crack and divot in the skull mask was caressed by the gentlest fingers, every prominence stroked. When Nori turned his sharp little nails on it again, even that was done tenderly – soft scratches in gentle patterns. The danger of the damage he _could_ do but didn't had Dwalin's entire body shaking.

"So sensitive," Nori mused, "you like to be touched. Is it just the mask? Where else feels this good to you?" He breathed another breath of smoke to curl around the mask, nudging against it with the tip of his nose.

"I... not scars. They don't feel anything." Dwalin's big hands clenched on his knees and he shifted in the water as Nori made a pleased sound, looking him over. His cock had taken a moment to catch up with what was happening, the pleasure of the unusual touch, but now it was fully interested. It pushed out against the thin towel looped around Dwalin's waist, and he shifted to try and conceal it at least a little more than the steam and the water gave him. Nori's sharp eyes noticed it through everything, though, and he flashed his sharp teeth.

"Let it out, there's no one to see but me." he urged, rubbing his cheek and fox-furred jaw against Dwalin's mask – soft skin and fur so unlike anything he was used to. "I'd _like_ to see. I'll keep a lookout for you."

Dwalin intended to tuck his towel tighter, press his cock down and make it go away until a more opportune time, but Nori chose that moment to rub the mask down his belly. The points of the skull's teeth dragged across his narrow torso, and Dwalin could feel the rumble of Nori's moan through his heated skin. Dwalin's breath caught in a deep groan as his body arched, his hand closing on his cock and squeezing. It was perfect, it was just what his body wanted. He didn't stop. The towel, untucked, floated away unnoticed.

"Mmm, beautiful..." Nori judged, rewarding Dwalin with a stroke of his soft tail to the underside of the mask. Soft was nice. Soft was good. How had Dwalin not known that soft was so good? His body had sprawled itself out in the water, defenses down. It wasn't wise of him, but everything felt so _good_ right now. The warm saltwater held and relaxed him, the starry sky was clear and peaceful and quiet, and Nori held his mask against his chest and stroked it slowly. Dwalin's hand on his cock automatically followed the pace the thief set.

Nori's body moved beneath Dwalin's mask, undulating slowly against it. The teeth pressed in to his soft skin, and Dwalin could feel the flex of the slight spirit's muscles beneath them. Nori's _fingers_ held most of his attention, though – stroking up and down and delicate patterns all over the mask as light as thought. Dwalin was breathing faster now, panting as if he were fighting with all his strength – but there was no fight here.

"It's been a while for you, hasn't it?" Nori observed. Had it been? Dwalin wasn't sure, his mind too fogged over with pleasure to think well. He had his share of flings with other spirits – the spirit of Battle Lust was always randy after a good fight – but that was different. It was nothing like this.

"No," Dwalin answered, shaking his head as he whimpered for pleasure. "Not like this." His own hand felt good on his cock, strong and tight in the warmth of the pool's water, but it was nothing compared to how Nori's touch felt on his mask. He was stroking the thin bones around the nostrils of the skull now, reaching in to pinch them between his clever fingers. It felt as though he were reaching right into _Dwalin_. It was almost scary that he didn't want Nori to stop – that it felt safe and good to be so vulnerable with him. Dwalin braced his legs under the water as his body strained up, his free hand clutching desperately at the stone rim of the pool.

"Let go," Nori urged eagerly. "Let go for me."

Dwalin was breathing like a bellows, the shaking and twisting of his body sending waves through the pool to splash back up against him as he searched for that last little bit... please just a little more...

"Let go..." Nori breathed. Dwalin gasped a desperate negation as he lifted the mask from his chest, but then Nori's breath was panting hot against the face of the mask. His long tongue flicked out and licked a single stripe up the center seam of the skull, slow and slick and soft and warm – and Dwalin's climax finally broke over him. His body bucked up under the cleverness of the tongue working its way into the tiny crevasses of his mask, hard enough he came unseated from the bench and found himself completely submerged in the saltwater.

He found his feet and emerged coughing to the sound of Nori's chuckle. Dwalin collapsed back onto the bench, still trembling and not at all sure any of his joints would still work or if they'd all been turned to jelly. His eyes weren't even focusing right in the aftermath of the pleasure.

The spirit of Nimble Fingers – lovely spirit, beautiful spirit – danced light as smoke across the water to him, fox eyes bright and his long tail and braid trailing behind him. Nori stroked those wonderful fingers down one of Dwalin's horns, lightly kissed the tip of the second, and was gone before Dwalin could figure out the steps to make his pleasure-sluggish hand try to grab hold of him to keep him.

Dwalin closed his eyes and melted against the stones of the pool's rim, not a hint of tension or stress left in his body. He hummed through with gentle pleasure, so different from his usual fury – but that was what the bathhouse was for, wasn't it? To let go of hurt and pain, to feel calm and relaxed and safe.

He was so very relaxed he might drift right to sleep. He was so relaxed he did not realize Nori hadn't given his skull mask back until he was distracted by another soft caress to it. Dwalin blinked sleepily, glancing around, but he was alone in the salt pool.

Nori had _stolen his mask_ , damn thief! Dwalin growled as he stood. At least his mask felt safe. It was surrounded by softness, as far as he could tell. Dwalin looked around briefly for his towel, but it was not to be seen. The cats would just have to clean it out of the pool later, that's what bathhouse attendants were there for, wasn't it? Dwalin climbed out naked and took two steps toward the towel rack before he realized that the dry towels he'd brought with him were also gone.

Again.

Dwalin was going to strangle the spirit of Nimble Fingers. He was. He was going to find a way to grab ahold of him and _strangle_ him. He snarled under his breath as he stomped back to the bathhouse, glad at least that his favorite bath was near his favorite room and he wouldn't have to go through the building to reach it. He was distracted on the way several times by the feel of soft hair brushing across his mask, sending him stumbling to grab onto the nearest sturdy object to keep his balance. Luck, which had abandoned his towels to Nori _again_ , at least made sure he didn't run into anyone on his way back to his room to get his clothes and his hammer and go hunt out a sneaky little thief who thought he could steal a part of the spirit of Battle Fury.

When he threw open the door of his room, his mask was there. The skull was lying on his bed in a nest of far more pillows and blankets than had come with the room. There was a depression in the blankets, about the size and shape of a sneaky little thief spirit. Nori was nowhere to be seen, though the depression was warm. No one was _supposed_ to be able to get into the rooms but those who'd paid for them, but that was a thief spirit for you, wasn't it? Dwalin grabbed his skull mask and _finally_ settled it back over his face. It smelled like Nori – sweet smoke and cinnamon and fox musk. Dwalin looked around, and over _there_ was his hammer and his clothes... but over _here_ the blankets and pillows on the bed were so soft. It was far more luxuriant than the spartan accommodations he'd asked for. The blankets were amazingly fluffy, and the pillows cradled him where he touched them.

And he was so relaxed after his bath. With his mask back now, he couldn't summon even a little anger to go hunt Nori. It had been a rude prank, but it was over now. Dwalin wasn't sure he ever made the conscious choice to, but he curled up in the pillows and blankets, cuddled down cozy with his whole body enveloped in softness and the scent of spice and fox musk.

He wasn't sure if the soft chuckle he heard as he fell asleep was real or imagined.

 

The next time Dwalin came to the Cat's Bathhouse he asked for extra soft pillows and blankets in his room, which the cat on duty did not even blink before agreeing to. He headed out to the saltwater pool as quickly as he could manage, more than ready to get rid of his tension and enjoy the luxury of being submerged in the warm water. The sky lit with the soft fire of sunset, and Dwalin snorted a brief laugh when he caught sight of a curl of smoke questing across the water toward him. He held one hand over his mask to keep it in place, tucked the rolled-up towel he was leaning back against on the edge of his pool closer to his neck so it couldn’t be stolen, and reached out along the pool's edge with his free hand.

"Come on out, little thief," he invited quietly. The smoke circled his hand twice before winding through his fingers, soft as breath, and then Nori was lying along the edge of the pool with his delicate long-fingered hand intertwined with Dwalin's, fox eyes bright. Dwalin ran his thumb across the warm back of Nori's little hand, and held still as the spirit of Nimble Fingers began exploring his own big less-than-nimble digits. He shuddered as Nori stroked up and down his fingers one at a time.

He was just curious, Nori. No sense of personal space or property, annoying, but essentially harmless. He was just a little spirit, Dwalin had nothing to fear from him. The spirit of Battle Fury smiled behind his fearsome skull mask and let his eyes drift closed as he moaned into the gentle touches of Nori's exploration.

There was nothing wrong with enjoying a little luxury now and then.


End file.
